


Some Soft Hance for the Soul

by National_Nobody



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is alive & well thank you, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Matt Holt/N7, M/M, Mild Smut, Nightmares, Not Epilogue Compliant, POV Hunk (Voltron), POV Lance (Voltron), Post canon, Team Voltron Family, background Sheith - Freeform, chef!hunk, omg they were roommates, past allurance, s8 didn't happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-09-26 12:23:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17141696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/National_Nobody/pseuds/National_Nobody
Summary: The war may be over, but Voltron will forever be Lance's second family.This is purely self-indulgent fluff. Hope it makes you smile, too. :)





	Some Soft Hance for the Soul

**Author's Note:**

> These two are so wholesome & I love them both as friends and together, so here we are. I wrote the majority of this before S8, and then once that destroyed me, I needed to get this fluff out there even more. This is not even a little bit epilogue compliant. Canon who? I don't know her.

**_March_ **

_Good morning, this is your captain speaking. We’re about twenty minutes to landing. Local time is 9:14 AM, and local weather looks to be a beautiful sunny day. On behalf of all of us on AirAmerica, we hope you’ve had a pleasant flight._

Lance stirred, lifting the sleep mask from his eyes. He cracked his neck, pushing up the cover on the window. The harsh daylight hitting his eyes made him squint, but the view below was achingly familiar. Lance grinned.

He could hardly keep his knee from bouncing as the plane hit the runway, twirling his headphones around his fingers as he waited impatiently for the plane to begin unloading. As they pulled up to the terminal, he switched his phone off of airplane mode, grinning again as messages poured in from his group chat.

_P: if you’re looking for me, I’m the one jumping up and down like a maniac with a sign._

_K: flight’s delayed. again. kill me now._

_P: quiznak :( I can wait for you guys if you want? how long’s the delay?_

_S: 2 hrs. It’s okay, we’ll just take a taxi & see you at the hotel. _

_H: Waiting for my stuff in the baggage claim right now. See you soon!!!!_

_P: woo! :D_

Lance typed out a quick response.

_L: heyo the party can START! I just landed! can’t wait to squish all ur faces._

_H: lol, seconded_

_P: haha! I’ll third that. so excited to see you guys!!!!!!_

Lance’s heart soared. Man, it had been too long.

“Lance! Over here!” Pidged called out excitedly as he exited the gate.

Lance’s head swiveled, trying to spot her. Instead, his eyes caught on a familiar, large hand waving a sign enthusiastically. In typical Pidge fashion, it had doodles of all of their faces in their respective lion colors, the words ‘if found, please return to Katie Holt’ scrawled underneath. Lance laughed, following the sign-waving arm down to its smiling owner.

“Hey guys!” Lance called out, waving back and walking over to the two of them as quickly as the crowd allowed. As he drew closer, Pidge finally came into view, grinning fiercely as she darted through people to get to him. Lance dropped his bag to the ground as she reached him, ducking down to lift Pidge right off her feet. She laughed as he swung her in a circle, squeezing her tightly.

“Well don’t kill me, you big dummy,” Pidge wheezed in Lance’s tight grip. “Matt kind of needs his Best Woman tomorrow.”

“Sorry,” Lance grinned, loosening his embrace slightly as she wrapped her arms and legs around him. “Jeeze your hair has gotten so long,” he commented, flicking her ponytail.

Pidge shrugged. “Yeah, I wanted to grow it out for the wedding. Give myself more options for styling it, you know?”

“You two coming over here so I can hug you too, or what?” Hunk complained. Lance’s heart swelled again at the sight of his familiar brown eyes shining with happiness.

“‘Course we are, you big, handsome lug,” Lance cooed, picking up his bag again and striding over to him. Pidge made another squashed noise of complaint as Hunk scooped Lance into a bear hug, sandwiching her between them.

“Good to see you, buddy,” Hunk said gently.

“Back atcha,” Lance murmured, burying his face in Hunk’s neck. Relief spread through him, easing the ache in his chest as he inhaled Hunk’s warm, familiar scent. His cheeks were already starting to hurt from smiling even though he’d only just arrived, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

He’d missed them so much.

 

 

“So has it sunk in yet?” Lance asked, tossing his bags haphazardly onto his hotel bed. 

“That my big brother is getting married tomorrow?” Pidge asked, sitting on the adjacent bed next to Hunk’s suitcase. “Kind of? Mostly it just feels weird that it’s finally going to be over after planning it for so long.”

“Is there anything you still have to do tonight, or can we officially steal you away?” Hunk asked, stepping out of the bathroom.

“Just the rehearsal dinner,” Pidge said. “I have to leave in about an hour for that and then I’ll be free again in the evening.”

“So, then it’s party in our room, got it.” Lance winked. Pidge rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “What?” Lance grinned wider. “Is that _not_ why you got us this nice, big room?”

“Just keep in mind I have to be up early tomorrow,” she said.

 

 

A knock sounded at the door. 

“Just a minute,” Lance called, laying upside down on his bed and tapping furiously at the controls of his handheld game.

“You really going to leave a couple of tired travelers out here in the cold, Lance?” a deep voice asked teasingly from the other side of the door. Lance sat up instantly with a huge grin, tossing his game down and striding over to yank the door open.

“Well, well, look who finally decided to join us,” Lance teased, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. Shiro smiled brightly, readjusting the suit bag draped over his shoulder as Keith did the same just behind him.

“Permission to enter?” Shiro asked, eyes twinkling.

“Anything for you, Captain.” Lance winked, stepping out of the way and holding the door open. “Hey, Hunk, get your tushy out of the shower, we’ve got company!”

Keith groaned, tossing his stuff down onto Lance’s bed and flopping into the chair by the desk.

“Next time, _I’m_ flying us wherever we need to go,” he griped. “That was such _bullshit_.”

“Gee, good to see you too, Keith,” Lance teased, hands on his hips as he stood over him.

“Yeah, yeah, hi.” Keith reached an arm up toward him. Lance chuckled, bending down and wrapping Keith up in a one-armed hug.

“Missed you, buddy,” Lance smiled.

“You, too, sharpshooter,” Keith said with a small smile. “Way to not answer my text last week, by the way. Shiro packed your paladin jacket, just in case.”

“Oh, shit,” Lance’s eyes went wide. “Sorry, man, thank you. I thought I did respond to that, my bad.”

“What would you do without us?” Shiro tsked, hanging up his and Keith’s suits in the closet next to Lance’s and Hunk’s.

“Be an even hotter mess?” Lance joked, straightening up and making grabby hands as he held his arms up wide. Shiro smiled, walking over and scooping Lance up into a tight hug.

Mmph, Keith was such a lucky bastard; Lance had nearly forgotten just how nice Shiro’s muscular bod felt, all up close and personal. Not to mention that, after Hunk, Shiro easily gave the second best hugs. In both cases, it was like being _engulfed_ in warm comfort. Especially considering how big Shiro’s regular arm was, let alone the giant robo-arm.

“So, how’ve you been?” Shiro asked, pulling back and ruffling Lance’s hair. “I barely heard from you last month.”

Guilt slid into Lance’s gut. “Yeah, sorry, man. Things have just been super busy,” he said quickly. “You know how it is.”

“Right,” Shiro said carefully.

“Hey, Lance,” Hunk called, muffled, through the bathroom door. “Toss me my clothes, would you?”

“On it,” Lance answered quickly, sidestepping Shiro with relief.

 

 

“You need this pillow, Lance?” Shiro asked, holding up the one he was about to toss onto the floor to sit on about to sit on.

Lance flopped down onto Hunk’s bed, resting his head in Hunk’s lap and stretching wide. “Nope, already got one,” he said.

“Aw, dude, come on, I was just about to grab some popcorn,” Hunk complained. “Keith, popcorn me.”

Keith reached for a handful, tossing the kernels at Hunk’s mouth one by one. He caught most of them deftly, Lance snagging the couple that missed and claiming them for himself.

“So,” Lance said, “I’d say we should play a round of Kings or something, but I wouldn’t want to be a bad influence on our dearest, underage, Pidgey here.”

Pidge plopped down directly on Lance’s stomach with gusto, knocking the breath out of him.

“Sorry, what was that?” she asked. Keith snorted.

“I mean, he’s right,” Shiro said, shooting her a look. “You’ve still got a month before you hit twenty-one. _But_ since it’s a special occasion...” he smirked, leaning over Keith to pull a paper bag out of his suitcase and place it on the coffee table. Pidge raised an eyebrow, pulling the bottle out of the bag.

“Oh my god,” she doubled over laughing, recognizing the label. “Shiro, where did you get your hands on _nunvil_?”

“What?! Let me see that,” Lance demanded. Pidge squawked as Lance sat up, shifting her into his lap and peering at the bottle. “Holy crow, did Coran give you this? When did you see him?”

“He sent it along when he found out he wouldn’t be able to make it to the wedding,” Shiro said. “One bottle for us and one for your brother.”

“Oh, how thoughtful,” Pidge said, making a face. “Don’t we have anything else? This stuff is _gross_.”

“Now, now, Pidgeon, don’t be rude,” Lance said. “If Coran wanted us to make merry without him, then we’ve gotta do it in his honor. I’ll get the cards out.”

 

 

“Ooh, careful, Keith,” Hunk warned, gesturing at the ring of facedown cards on the table. “Don’t break the circle.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Keith said, leaning forward to slide a card toward himself and flip it over. “What’s eight, again?”

“Pick a date,” Pidge and Hunk said in unison. “Whoever you pick has to drink whenever you do,” Hunk added.

Keith smirked mischievously. “In that case, bottom’s up, sharpshooter.”

“Aw, come on, Hunk already picked me as a date, too!” Lance complained.

“Yep,” Keith said, sipping his nunvil mixed with soda from one of the plastic cups the hotel room always supplied for water.

Lance sighed dramatically, giving Keith the finger as he took a swig of his own drink. Keith leaned into Shiro, looking smug.

“Your turn, Shiro,” Pidge said. Shiro shook his head at Keith with a small smile, wrapping his human arm around Keith’s waist and sending his robot arm forward to grab his card.

“Jack,” Shiro said. “Three fingers up, everybody.”

Pidge groaned. “Again? The Never Have I Ever ones take forever, can we just do something else for jacks?”

“If you get the next King, Pidgey, then you can make that a rule. Otherwise, get your paws up,” Lance said. Pidge sighed, but put her fingers up diligently.

“Alright, never have I ever…” Shiro trailed off contemplatively, eyes scanning around the room for inspiration, “Eaten an entire pint of ice cream in one go.”

“ _Wow._ I feel personally attacked right now,” Hunk shook his head, putting a finger down. The rest all did the same with equally loud grumbling.

“How is that even possible?” Lance said. “Who _hasn’t_ done that?” Shiro shrugged, smiling.

“You next, Hunk,” Shiro said.

“‘Kay. Never have I ever...broken a bone,” Hunk said. Lance, Keith, and Shiro all put a finger down. “Ha, nice. High five, Pidge,” Hunk held his hand up. Pidge grinned, smacking it.

“Well sheesh, you guys are killing me,” Lance said, brain already beginning to feel quite fuzzy. “Go easy on me Pidge.”

She rolled her eyes. “Blah, blah, blah, I haven’t gone skiing,” she said. Only Hunk put a finger down. Pidge glanced at him in surprise. “Seriously? When did you go skiing?” she demanded.

“Last year, remember? My nephew begged me to go on vacation with them and I stayed on the bunny hill with him the whole time?” Hunk reminded.

“ _Oh_ , yeah, I forgot all about that,” Pidge said. “Feel free to go for the kill shot then, Lance, everyone but me is down to one.”

“With pleasure,” Lance said. “Since Keith is deciding to _be_ one, never have I ever gotten dicked down by our one and only Captain Shirogane.”

Shiro choked a little on the water he’d just taken a sip of, face going instantly crimson. Hunk and Pidge burst into laughter.

“Jokes on you, idiot, what did I literally _just_ say during the eight?” Keith reminded bluntly, putting his final finger down and tossing back a big gulp of his drink, as per the rules.

“Aw, fucking hell, I forgot,” Lance whined in annoyance as Hunk and Pidge laughed harder, sipping his own drink begrudgingly.

“It’s okay, buddy, thinking while drinking has never been your strong suit,” Hunk teased, tapping his cup against Lance’s as well since he was Lance’s other ‘date.’

Keith laughed, kissing Shiro on the cheek as Shiro resolutely hid his face in his hand in embarrassment.

“My turn,” Hunk said, leaning forward to pick up a card.

Lance leaned into him as he sat back again, warmed by Pidge’s tiny frame at his one side, and Hunk’s solid presence on his other. He smiled to himself, glancing around at the familiar faces of his friends, and felt perfectly at home.

 

 

“At this time, our lovely couple would like to ask the bridal party join them on the dance floor,” the MC said.

“Come on, that’s our cue,” Shiro stood, holding his hand out for Keith. Keith stared at it, frowning.

“Do we have to?” Keith asked, eyes darting to the large crowd.

“Yep,” Pidge said, attempting to shove him out of his chair. “If I have to dance, you have to dance. Up!” Keith huffed, but relented.

“Wait, who’s dancing with you, Pidge?” Hunk asked.

“Uh, _me_ , obviously,” Lance said, getting to his feet. “After all the Best Woman shouldn’t be settling for anything less than the best man around here, right Pidge?”

“I thought we just established that Shiro’s already taken,” Pidge smirked, grabbing Lance’s hand.

“Hey!” Lance protested, letting her drag him onto the dance floor.

Lance rested a hand on Pidge’s waist, swaying dutifully to the music with everyone else. Pidge’s face scrunched slightly, studying him.

“What?” Lanced asked self consciously.

“You really haven’t told _anyone_ about Allura yet, have you,” she said bluntly. Lance stiffened, then sighed.

“She told you?” he asked.

“Yeah. And she was very surprised to hear I hadn’t heard it from you first,” Pidge said, accusation in her tone.

Lance pulled her closer to his chest so that he wouldn’t have to look her in the eye.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just figured I’d wait to tell you all until after the wedding. Didn’t want to steal the spotlight by having everyone throw me a pity party, you know?”

“Since when have I literally _ever_ thrown you a pity party?” Pidge asked. Lance’s lips twitched.

“Fine, by having _Hunk and Shiro_ throw me a pity party, then,” he amended.

“You should tell them,” she said more gently. “Eventually one of them is going to ask you why she’s not here.”

“She didn’t skip out on _my_ account, Pidge,” Lance said. “She really did have something come up with the coalition.”

“I know, I just mean they aren’t going to stay quiet about her forever,” Pidge said.

Lance sighed, resting his chin on her head. “Yeah, I know.”

For all her talk about not showing pity, Lance didn’t miss how Pidge hugged him a little tighter than necessary when the dance came to an end.

 

 

“Lance, have you seen my tie?” Hunk asked, groping around under his hotel bed. “I thought I hung it up in the closet last night when we got back, but I don’t see it.”

“Nope,” Lance said, upside down on the other bed. “You can check through my bag if you want, I might’ve packed it on accident.”

Hunk huffed, getting to his feet. “I can’t believe it’s already time to go back. I’ve got so many new menu items to prep and try out on Monday,” he sighed, rifling through Lance’s duffle bag.

“I hear ya,” Lance said, watching Hunk’s hands. “I wish we could all stick around for a week or something. This was fun, but it didn’t feel like nearly enough reunion time.”

“Believe me, if I could I would,” Hunk said. His face lit up as he yanked a piece of yellow silk free of the mess of Lance’s belongings. “Aha! You did take it,” he scolded, swatting Lance’s leg. “And come on, at least do a room check, we’ve gotta leave soon. Your terminal is further along the shuttle route than mine, right?”

Lance opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated thoughtfully.

“Lance?” Hunk asked.

“I mean, if I fly back _with_ you it’s not,” Lance pointed out with a grin.

Hunk chuckled. “Yeah, wouldn’t _that_ be nice,” he said.

“Well, what’s your flight number?” Lance asked enthusiastically. Hunk met his eyes, surprised.

“Wait, seriously?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah, why not?” Lance said. “I still have some time off. What better way to spend it?”

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d love that,” Hunk said, “but what about Allura? She’s coming home on Tuesday isn’t she? I’m sure it’d be easy for her to change her flight so that she stopped by my place before heading home, but I don’t really have room to host you both right now.”

Lance picked at his fingernails, smiling fading. “Nah, buddy, just me.”

Heat rose to his face as he felt Hunk scrutinizing him.

“Aw, Lance,” Hunk sighed finally, plopping down on Lance’s bed by his knees with a sympathetic look. “You guys broke up, didn’t you?”

Lance swallowed, extending his legs to rest his feet in Hunk’s lap.

“What happened?” Hunk asked gently, laying a hand on Lance’s knee. A little bubble of relief rose in Lance’s chest at how Hunk didn’t press him about not telling him sooner, too. Lance shrugged.

“Nothing really happened,” he answered quietly. “That was kind of the problem.”

“What do you mean?” Hunk asked.

“I mean, I love Allura, you know I do,” Lance said, a little defensively. “But it’s just. I don’t know.”

He sighed, searching for the words.

“I guess lately it felt more like we were roommates than in a relationship,” he admitted. “Like, we’d spend time together, and it wasn’t like we didn’t enjoy each other’s company, but, there just wasn’t any _desire_ anymore. We went, like, a month without having sex and I barely even _noticed_.”

“ _You_? Not notice after a whole month?” Hunk asked skeptically with a laugh.

“Right?” Lance said. “That’s what I’m saying! She’s off-world for work a lot, so, you know, I figured that was all it was. Not actually for lack of trying. But then, the most recent time that she got home after being away for three weeks...it was just so _platonic_ , man. I gave her a hug and we kissed for like, a _sec_ , and then we went right to sleep. And I didn’t even mind because I wasn’t really feeling it.”

“So, you guys gave up? Just like that?” Hunk asked.

“No,” Lance frowned. “She came to the same realization too, not long before we broke up, so she spontaneously took a personal day on one of my days off, and we tried to make a whole, long, romantic date out of it, but...again it felt like we were just trying really hard rather than _actually_ feeling anything. Plus, it’s not just the physical stuff. That’s just a small part of it. I think… I think we just spend so much time apart that we’ve gone past the ‘living our own separate lives together’ thing to just ‘living our own separate lives.’”

Lance sighed again. “Anyway, it was a mutual thing. We sat down and had a talk about it one night, and Allura suggested we just take a break for a couple of weeks to see how we felt, so we did that, and then...well that pretty much ended it. Neither of us really felt right about going back, after. We’re still friends and everything, though. You guys don’t have to worry about, like, feeling like you have to take sides or whatever.”

Hunk squeezed his knee. “Well I’m sorry to hear that, dude. I know how much being with her meant to you.”

“Thanks, buddy,” Lance shot him a small smile. Hunk smiled back.

“Guess we’d better get you a ticket, then huh? It would be helpful to have someone to test out those new appetizers I mentioned,” Hunk nudged him.

Lance laughed, relief spreading through his chest. “You don’t need to ask me twice. Letting you feed me is one of my favorite pastimes.”

 

+

 

Becoming the head chef of his own restaurant hadn’t just done wonders for Hunk, Lance decided as he shoved another Altean cookie into his mouth, but might also be one of the best things that had ever happened to Lance as well. It never ceased to amaze him how Hunk brought so many different planets and cultures to life in his kitchen, and could easily say he hadn’t eaten this well since his last visit to his grandparents’ house _months_ ago.

He was starting to think the Samoan sun he’d been enjoying for the past three days suited him better than he thought, as well.

“Well, what do you think?” Hunk asked, smile on his lips at Lance’s obvious enthusiasm.

“Mm, not sure,” Lance said with his mouth full. “Think I need to have a few more before I can really say.”

Hunk laughed. “I’ll send you home with some, how ‘bout that?” he asked. Lance’s mood soured.

“Do I have to go back?” he whined.

“If you want to keep your job, then yeah. Yeah you do.” Hunk said, patting his head.

“Screw the job.” Lance pouted. “I miss this. I miss _you_. Not having you as a roomie is the worst and I hate it.”

“I feel you, buddy,” Hunk agreed. “Why do you think Pidge and I spend half our free time video chatting each other? Even though it’s been five years, not being together constantly is still weird. I miss you guys all the time.”

“Maybe I could transfer,” Lance said. “Your lease is up in a few months right? We could find a place together out here.” He held Hunk’s skeptical look with excited sincerity.

“You serious?” Hunk asked hopefully.

“Hell yeah,” Lance said, slapping the counter. “Come on, get your laptop over here, we’re apartment hunting immediately.”

Hunk laughed. “Order of operations, dude. First, you get on your flight, then we spend hours on Zillow over video chat when you get home. Deal?”

“Fine,” Lance sighed, flopping his arms around Hunk’s neck as he leaned his weight on Hunk’s back. “Miss you already, though.”

Hunk reached back to ruffle Lance’s hair. “Aw. Miss you too, Lance.”

 

 

**_July_ **

“Welcome to Casa de Lunk!” Lance said, shoving the door open dramatically.

“Yeah, we are so not calling it that,” Hunk grunted, passing by him to place a heavy box on the floor.

“Why? What else would we call it?” Lance asked, hands on his hips. “McGarrett would make it sound like our apartment was a special at McDonald’s.”

Hunk laughed, wiping his brow. “I don’t know. The Shoebox?”

“It’s not _that_ small,” Lance said. “Besides, you said you didn’t care if the bedrooms were tiny as long as the kitchen was big.”

“Yep, I did,” Hunk said, glancing around their new digs. “It’s just that, when I said that, I totally forgot how much I _also_ love my king size bed. And now I think that’ll take up almost my whole bedroom, so. Oops.”

Lance shook his head, clicking his tongue. “You’re killing my vibe, Hunk. Here I am, all excited to be living together again, and—oof.” All the breath was squeezed out of him as Hunk squished him into a tight side hug.

“Oh shush, I’m excited too,” Hunk grinned. “It’ll just be an adjustment, that’s all.”

Lance smiled, hugging him back. “Speaking of the kitchen, can we unpack those boxes first so that we can break it in ASAP? And by we I mean you?”

“ _If_ you help me unload the rest of the U-Haul, maybe,” Hunk said, giving Lance a light shove back toward the door.

“So, take out then. Got it,” Lance teased.

 

+

 

“Hey, Lance?” Hunk called. “Can you come here for a sec?”

Lance rolled off the couch, padding over to Hunk’s room.

“Yeah, what’s up—whoa.” A smile spread across Lance’s face as he eyed Hunk up and down. He was decked out in a nice yellow button down and the new slacks he’d just bought with Lance the other week, his hair slicked handsomely into place.

“Hoo, baby. _Someone’s_ looking fancy tonight. What’s the occasion?” Lance asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Hunk chuckled sheepishly. “Do you think it’s too much? I haven’t been on a date in ages, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”

“I mean, I’m a fan,” Lance said, walking up to tuck in the tag that was sticking out of Hunk’s collar. “Since when are you going on a date tonight though? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” he reprimanded.

Hunk’s ears went a little red. “I wasn’t sure I was gonna go,” he admitted. “I kind of just decided last minute.”

“Well?” Lance asked impatiently. “Who is she? Where’d you meet her? Details, dude!”

Hunk hesitated, fussing with the buttons on his shirt. Lance’s smile shrank.

“Hunk?” he prodded, placing a gentle hand on Hunk’s shoulder.

“He’s a regular at the restaurant,” Hunk said finally, a little shaky.

Lance’s heart skipped a beat. The color on Hunk’s ears deepened.

“Oh,” Lance squeaked out, finally.

Before Lance could help it, he was suddenly overtaken by a fit of giggles.

“What?” Hunk demanded, defensively.

“Oh my _god_. _Hunk_. Are you kidding me?” Lance kept laughing, gripping his stomach. “All this fucking time. You _know_ I’m bi too, why the hell didn’t you say something sooner?”

Hunk looked even more embarrassed. “I wasn’t sure, okay?” he whined. “I don’t know, you’ve always been so matter of fact about it. I just. I’d never felt like that before.”

Lance wrapped his arms around Hunk’s waist from behind, giggling into his broad shoulders. “I can’t fucking believe you. Aw man, this is so awesome. We’re celebrating. Right now. I don’t care when your date is, you’re making yourself a cocktail first and toasting with me.”

Hunk buried his face in his hands. “Ugh, is it really that big of a deal?” he asked, muffled.

“To me it is!” Lance said, grinning widely as he squeezed him. “Hey, seriously though man, it means a lot that you’d tell me. And you totally don’t have to label yourself the same way as I have, by the way, it’s not like I figured it out right away either. It’s okay if you’re still working stuff out, and I’m here for you if you ever wanna talk it out, okay?”

“Right, yeah,” Hunk said, sounding relieved. “Thanks, Lance.”

“Now come on,” Lance said, tugging on his arm. “Kitchen! Drinks! Merriment! Right now.”

Hunk shook his head, smile rising on his lips. “Okay, bear with me because I know I say this a lot, but seriously. You are a _ridiculous_ human being.”

“But you love me anyway,” Lance sang, squeezing his hand as he dragged him out of the room.

 

 

**_September_ **

Hunk startled awake as he heard screaming. _Familiar_ screaming.

Cold terror ripped through Hunk’s chest, and in a second he was on his feet, mind racing alongside his heart as he reached blindly for his helmet. He swore as his knuckles smacked hard against his bedside table, misjudging the height, and grit his teeth as he scrambled desperately for a lightswitch.

Crap, where was it? He needed to hurry up. Lance was in trouble and Allura was going to be pissed at his response time and—

His fingers finally fumbled over the switch on his lamp, the sudden light making him squint. He froze.

This...wasn’t the Castleship.

His chest heaved, eyes casting around the small space.

The night was quiet, his own heartbeat the only notable sound, pounding in his ears. He’d knocked some bills onto the floor from his dresser, the blue numbers on his alarm clock reading 3:27AM. Adrenaline coursed through his veins without cause, his muddled brain trying to reconcile what was in front of him.

He was in his bedroom. His _Earth_ bedroom.

Lance’s sweatshirt was draped unceremoniously over the back of Hunk’s desk chair. Hunk’s favorite mug was sitting on a Galaxy Garrison coaster, still half full of the white tea Matt had sent him for his birthday. The airplants he’d bought with Lance last week rotated slightly in window from the breeze of his fan.

There was no yelling. No alarms blaring. Just...your average 3AM stillness.

Oh.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and letting his pulse slow back to normal.

Right...okay. He was fine. Lance was fine. Must’ve been a dream.

He sat back down on the edge of his bed, sighing as he massaged at the light throbbing in his hand.

Man...it had been a while since he’d last had a moment like this. Not since he lived alone, now that he thought of it. Being with Lance again made him feel much less anxious, his nightmares fewer and farther between. Guess he should’ve known it was still bound to happen again eventually.

A soft knock rapped at his door. He looked up in surprise.

“Uh, it’s open,” he said, just loud enough to be heard. Guilt twisted in his stomach as Lance poked his head in, squinting at the light. Hunk reached to swap it to a lower setting.

The question at the tip of Hunk’s tongue died in his throat, brow furrowing in concern as Lance stepped past the door. He was wrapped up tightly in his comforter, face pale and eyes rimmed with red.

Lance shuffled to Hunk’s desk chair, perching tentatively on it with his gaze fixed to the floor. “Didn’t think you’d be awake,” he said quietly.

“I was going to say the same to you,” Hunk said. “Did I wake you up?”

Lance shook his head. “Bad dream,” he mumbled, pulling the blanket tighter around himself.

Something clicked in Hunk’s brain. Maybe he hadn’t dreamed up Lance’s scream after all.

His heart squeezed.

He patted the bed next to him, inviting Lance closer. Lance side-eyed the spot for a second, then scooted the couple of feet over, flopping into Hunk’s side as he sat. Hunk wrapped an arm around him, squeezing gently at the squishy comforter cocoon.

“You wanna talk about it?” he asked softly. Lance shook his head. “Alright. Well, there’s plenty of room in here, if that’s what you came knocking for.”

Lance sighed sharply, rubbing a hand across his face as he sat up. “It’s okay, man, I just…” he swallowed. “I don’t know, I just needed to see that you were alright, I guess.”

“Yeah. I hear ya,” Hunk said, relating all too well. He squeezed Lance again. “We’re safe, buddy. I promise. And I’m not going anywhere, okay?”

Lance nodded, tucking his head under Hunk’s chin as he leaned back into Hunk’s side, snaking his arms around him and holding tight. Hunk hugged him back, with both arms this time, resting his cheek on the top of Lance’s head.

For a moment they simply stayed like that, letting the last bits of lingering fear dissipate as their quiet reality sunk back in. Even though he felt Lance’s muscles relaxing, Hunk could also feel his reluctance to pull away.

“It really is fine if you want to stay,” Hunk offered again understandingly. “Hell, it’ll probably help me sleep better, too.”

“...okay,” Lance murmured softly, sounding grateful.

Hunk let go of him so they could both scoot under the covers, tossing Lance’s comforter haphazardly on top of his own and turning the light off. He settled onto his side, feeling Lance shifting around to settle in close to him and crossing his ankle over Hunk’s. His breath was warm by Hunk’s face, their foreheads just barely touching. A renewed feeling of ease and security settled like a warm stone in Hunk’s chest. He closed his eyes.

 

 

The sun started peeking in through his blinds an hour and half before Hunk’s alarm.

He lay flat on his back, yawning wide as his brain whirred slowly back to wakefulness, blinking blearily at the ceiling. He turned his head to the side and got a face full of hair. Lance’s head was half on his pillow and half on Hunk’s, chin tucked down to rest just above Hunk’s shoulder. Both of Lance’s arms were wrapped loosely around Hunk’s bicep, body spooning at Hunk’s side with one calf tossed over Hunk’s shin.

Hunk’s lips quirked as he rubbed his eyes, careful not to jostle him. Typical. He’d forgotten what a cuddle monster Lance was when he slept.

Gingerly, Hunk extracted himself from Lance’s embrace, tucking both comforters in around Lance’s body as he shuffled into his slippers. Lance made a sleepy noise as he flopped over onto his other side, letting out a soft sigh as he settled again. Hunk watched him for a moment, then opened and closed the bedroom door softly as he made his way into the kitchen.

Unsurprisingly, he noticed Lance emerge only once breakfast was already beginning to fill the kitchen with the warm, mouth watering smells of sizzling bacon and fluffy pancakes.

Lance’s eyes were still mostly closed as he meandered straight to the bathroom, but by the time Hunk was sliding the food onto their plates, he heard the water stop running.

“Hey, Lance, you want coffee or OJ?” Hunk called. The door opened, Lance rubbing a towel through his hair as he stepped out in his bathrobe.

“Both, please,” Lance answered with a yawn. He hung the towel on the back of the bathroom door then shuffled over to where Hunk was standing by the fridge, flopping against Hunk’s back with his arms circling loosely around Hunk’s shoulders, as he often did.

“Gross, dude. There’s a reason I said _or_ ,” Hunk shook his head, pouring a cup of each beverage anyway and then reaching back, as usual, to ruffle Lance’s hair.

“Don’t judge me,” Lance mumbled into his shoulder blades. Hunk smiled exasperatedly.

“You get back to sleep okay?” Hunk asked gently. Lance nodded, letting go of him as Hunk brought the food over to the table.

“Yeah, I slept a lot better,” Lance said a little sheepishly. “Hey, uh. Thanks for...you know. I’m sorry again for waking you up.”

Hunk waved his apology away, hooking an arm around Lance’s shoulders and pulling him in for a hug. “Anytime, buddy. Trust me, you’re not the only one dealing with nightmares. Being out there for so long...it was a lot. For all of us.”

Lance hugged him back, squeezing tight before pulling back with a small, weary smile and taking a seat in front of his breakfast. Hunk followed suit, both of them digging into their food in comfortable silence as the room slowly brightened around them.

“Hey, Hunk?” Lance said finally as he poked at the last few bites of his syrup-drenched pancakes. Hunk made a noise of affirmation, swallowing his own mouthful. “I’m glad we did this,” Lance said sincerely. “Moving back in together, I mean.”

Hunk smiled. “Me too, Lance.”

 

 

**_October_ **

Lance sighed dramatically, flopping onto his back on the couch in the most miserable fashion he could manage. Hunk glanced up from where he was chopping a pepper in the kitchen.

“Fine, I’ll bite,” Hunk conceded. “What’s the matter, Lance?”

“Oh, you know,” Lance said. “Just the usual existential dread of never finding love again and dying alone as a hermit on the beach somewhere.”

“Oh. Well if _that’s_ all,” Hunk shook his head, lips quirking up. “For a second there I thought it was something serious.”

“Dude, come on,” Lance whined. “I’m _suffering_ over here. You’ve gone on, like, three dates in the past two months, but me? Nada. Zip. Zilch. I haven’t gotten laid in _ages_. At this rate I’m going to forget what it feels like to be touched by another human.”

“Lance, you bully me into giving you a massage at _least_ once a day,” Hunk said amusedly.

“And I love and appreciate you for that, but you know what I mean!” Lance pouted.

“Uh huh. No worries, I’ll be sure to call the wambulance as soon as I’ve finished with these veggies,” Hunk teased.

Lance groaned, rolling over onto his stomach.

“Can I just call dibs on _you_ if we hit, like, thirty and nobody’s snatched you up yet? No one’s going to beat your standard of cooking and pampering anyway.”

“And patience, don’t forget that,” Hunk joked.

“Exactly!” Lance said, gesturing emphatically. Hunk chuckled, shaking his head.

“If you manage to woo me with a full sized, top-of-the-line kitchen in your future waterfront beach house, then I’ll think about it.”

“Sounds doable,” Lance said, stretching and then getting to his feet, circling around behind Hunk to hug him from behind. “ _If_ I don’t convince you beforehand, that is.”

“Oh?” Hunk asked skeptically. “You going to start actually doing laundry more than once a month or something?”

“Why would I do that when I can just wear your clothes?” Lance said. “And see? My point exactly. We’re _already_ a _little_ married. All I need to do is up the McClain charm more and then you won’t be able to resist.”

Hunk shook his head. “You’re ridiculous,” he said fondly, patting Lance’s arm. “And if you _actually_ got back out there with that ‘McClain charm’ of yours, you’d be dating it up just fine. You haven’t even tried, man.”

Lance huffed, chin resting on Hunk’s shoulder blades. “I made that dating profile,” he argued. “There’s no one on there I’ve clicked with. They all only want me for my sweet bod.”

“That was _one_ time, and then you never signed in again,” Hunk said flatly. “Look, you work from home most days. Every time we go out for trivia, you barely even flirt with anyone at the bar—which is very weird for you, by the way. You haven’t signed up for a gym, or any hobby-related classes, or _anything_ in town. You can’t meet people if you don’t get back out there.”

Hunk could tell Lance was frowning, but he didn’t seem to be forthcoming with a retort this time. Hunk put his knife and ingredients down, turning in Lance’s arms to face him.

“Look, man, I get that it’s hard. We’ve been through a lot of stuff that other people haven’t, and it can be scary to have to open yourself up about it. With Allura, it was easy because she was right there with you through all of our time as Voltron. I worry a lot, too, that anyone I start seeing won’t understand, or be freaked out about, all the baggage that came with that. But, you have to give people a chance, you know?”

“I guess,” Lance said quietly. “I still doubt my chances are high for finding someone better than _the_ Hunk Garrett, though,” he teased. Hunk rolled his eyes with a smile, squeezing Lance into a big bear hug.

“Whatever you say, buddy.”

 

 

**_November_ **

Hunk pulled an earbud out, smiling at Lance across the room.

“Hey, you’re back!” Hunk said brightly. “How’d it go?”

Lance shuffled out of his shoes then crossed over to him, flopping onto the other side of the couch and putting his feet up in Hunk’s lap. “Pretty good, I guess. She was nice.”

“What, that’s it?” Hunk asked incredulously.

“Well, no, I mean, we had plenty to talk about,” Lance amended. “She’s got this really cool job and is clearly super passionate about it. And we talked about, like, TV shows, and how she was in a surfing club for a little while. I’d say we definitely bonded over our love of the ocean.”

“That’s great,” Hunk said, smiling encouragingly.

“Yeah,” Lance said, unsuredly. He ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. “I don’t know, man. I had a nice time and all, but I felt like I kept unconsciously comparing her to Allura, and then getting mad at myself for doing that, and...I don’t know.”

“I mean, that’s understandable,” Hunk said. “It was only a first date. I’m sure if you got to know her better than you’d stop thinking about that.”

“Maybe,” Lance murmured. “The thing is, I _know_ it wouldn’t work out between Allura and I even if we did get back together. But, I still miss her. Or at least, what we had. Is that crazy?”

“‘Course not,” Hunk said, squeezing his knee. “But, again, I think a good way for you to get past that is to move on, you know? Make some new, fun, romantic memories with someone else who is _also_ really cool and awesome. And very different from Allura.”

“Mm,” Lance murmured contemplatively, resting his cheek on the crook of his arm, propped up on the backrest of the sofa, and gently meeting Hunk’s gaze with a long look Hunk wasn’t sure how to read.

“How’s your new menu design going?” Lance changed the subject.

Hunk shrugged. “It’s going. I think I’ve looked at it too long, honestly. Now that you’re back, I might put it down and take a fresh look at it tomorrow.”

“Movie time, then?” Lance smiled. “That weird vampire film finally came in, yesterday.”

“The one we were supposed to get for Halloween?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah! Better late than never, right?” Lance grinned. Hunk made a face.

“I guess. I don’t know if I’m really in the mood for it _now_ , though.”

“You sure? ‘Cause Option B would be that Bi Boh Bee romcom,” Lance smirked. Hunk laughed.

“Yeah, that is only allowed to be Option B if it’s accompanied by some stiff cocktails. You know, for the best over-dubbing results.”

“Ooh, well then it’s your lucky day! I just so happen to know a guy who could whip us up some professional-grade mojitos in just a few ticks,” Lance winked.

“Okay, true, _but_ ,” Hunk pointed out, “didn’t you also promise Pidge you’d watch it with her? We have the entirety of the internet at our disposal. You really can’t wait two weeks?”

“Eh, she’ll let it slide if I bribe her with that fancy techno whatcha-ma-call-it that she was hinting at wanting for the holidays,” Lance said.

“Alright,” Hunk said, lifting his hands up in front of him. “Just let it be known that _you_ were the one who dared risk her wrath, not me.”

Lance smirked.

 

 

In hindsight, Hunk thought that maybe should have kept better track of how much he was letting Lance drink, even if it _was_ in their own home.

“Hunk. Hey. _Huh-unk_ ,” Lance slurred emphatically, sprawled out on the couch with his head in Hunk’s lap and smacking his palms lightly against Hunk’s cheeks with each word. The credits rolled to bittersweet, sappy music on the TV.

Hunk lifted Lance’s hands away from his face. “Yeah, hi, I hear you,” Hunk said with an exasperated smile, his own brain sitting right in that sweet spot of pleasantly foggy but still coherent.

“Shhhh, no, _listen_. _Hunk_. Most precious cinnamon roll. Light of my life—hey! Stop laughing and lookit me,” Lance insisted. “I freakin’ _love_ you, man. You know that? Like, lemme tell you something,” Lance said, plowing ahead without waiting for a response. “You? You are _so_ _great._ You’re like. You know the sun? Like, _fuck_ the sun. _You’re_ the sun. _Better_ , even. All bright and happy and good, right? And _I’m_ , like...like, what the fuck would I even _do_ without you? You know? I’d be a mess. A _mess_ , man _._ I’m serious.”

Hunk did his best to hold back his laughter. “Aw. That’s very sweet, buddy. I love you, too.”

“ _No_ , but,” Lance pouted morosely with a disgruntled sigh. “I don’t think—you don’t _get_ it. You are _so_ important to me. Like, the _most_ important. I just, I need you to _know_ that. Okay?”

“You’re important to me too, Lance,” Hunk reassured. He threw his hand down quickly to steady Lance’s back as Lance lurched unsteadily into an upright position. “Whoa-kay. Easy now.”

“Easy-smeasy,” Lance mocked. “I am _fine_.”

“Uh huh,” Hunk said flatly.

“I _am_. And more to the _point_ , y’know who _else_ is fine? _This_ guy,” Lance said, poking a finger hard into Hunk’s chest. “And you _better_ think so. Because I’m your _best_ friend, and I _know_ this about you. You are _The_. _Finest._ ”

“And _you_ are _The._ _Drunkest_ ,” Hunk said, finally unable to contain his laughter anymore. “See if I ever listen to you about your own limits again.”

Lance scoffed, scooting his bony ass into Hunk’s lap and flinging his arms around Hunk’s neck, his head falling heavily onto Hunk’s shoulder. “Limits are for chumps. B’sides, I feel great, thanks very much. That last drink thing you made? Amazing. Because of course it was, ‘cause you’re a _classy_ , _talented,_ _wonderful_ man, who we call a _hunk_ for a _reason_.”

That set Hunk off again, his stomach swooping and starting to hurt from laughter at the same time.

“Holy Kaltenecker. Forget the movie, I think Pidge is going to kill me for not recording _this_ instead,” Hunk chuckled, grinning down at his over dramatic friend. “Sheesh. Remind me to have my phone at the ready next time. I could use a new motivational ringtone.”

“Mmm.” Lance nuzzled into Hunk’s neck with his eyes closed, pressing a big, sloppy kiss just above where Hunk’s neck met his shoulder. “I mean it, though. You’re a big ol’ handsome hunk and I _love_ you,” Lance cooed drunkenly against his skin. Hunk felt his face go hot.

“Alright, loverboy, I hear ya. How about we get you to bed, huh? It’s late.” Hunk said, lifting Lance in his arms as he got to his feet.

Lance circled his arms tighter around him, nuzzling up toward Hunk’s ear as Hunk carried him to his room. Hunk swallowed, Lance’s breath sending warm tingles down his spine. _Quiznack_ , this was just silly.

Lance protested as Hunk lowered him onto the bed, but his grip was no match for Hunk’s as Hunk pried Lance’s arms from around his shoulders.

“Where’re you going?” Lance complained, frowning.

“To get you some water,” Hunk said patiently, holding Lance by the wrists to keep his grabby hands at bay. “Stop it, you goober, you’ll thank me later.”

Lance relented, letting his arms flop down dramatically wide on the mattress with a truly pitiful puppy-dog look of despair. Hunk snorted.

“Lancey, my dude, I love you, but that has not worked on me in eleven years,” he said flatly. “Do me a favor and find your last sliver of chill, please.”

“Why must you hurt me like this?” Lance lamented, flopping onto his side and pouting harder.

“Last. Sliver. Of. Chill,” Hunk repeated, booping Lance’s nose with each word.

Once he’d coaxed some hydration back into Lance and tucked him in, advil at the ready next to his water glass for when he woke the next morning, Hunk tiptoed out of Lance’s room and back to his own.

As he undressed to change for bed, he took a moment to study himself in the mirror.

Hunk had always been raised to be proud of his body. _“Be thankful,”_ his mother would tell him. _“A good, bulky body means you have enough food on the table and strength in your bones.”_ All the same, not being _ashamed_ wasn’t the same as thinking of himself as overtly _handsome_. 

His face warmed again. _Lance_ was the conventionally attractive one, with his perfect skin and flexible, willowy frame. Did he...really think of Hunk as that good looking, too?

He rubbed at his neck where Lance had kissed him, letting out a long, conflicted sigh.

 _Lance was drunk and feeling overly sincere about his best pal. That’s all. Just accept the compliment and let it go, Hunk,_ he reprimanded himself.

He tossed on a loose pajama set and crawled under the covers, closing his eyes and pushing aside a strange, unidentified twinge in his chest.

 

 

 ** _December_ ** 

“Lance, where’s the other controller?” Pidge asked, sitting in front of the TV and looking back at him over her shoulder.

The pause dragged on a bit too long. 

Hunk glanced over at Lance curiously, wondering why he hadn’t answered, and was surprised to see Lance was already looking—scratch that— _staring_ , right at him. 

Hunk stared back for a half a second, still waiting for Lance to respond, then raised an eyebrow when he didn’t, a small, amused smile rising to his lips. Lance smiled softly back.

“Uh, Earth to Lance?” Pidge prodded again, turning all the way around to fix their oblivious friend with a perplexed, if amused, look.

Lance didn’t so much as flinch, seemingly deaf to Pidge’s request as he instead fixated on removing a stray eyelash from Hunk’s cheek.

Hunk laughed, at a bit of a loss. “You going to answer her or what?”

“I—What?” Lance snapped out of it, cheeks reddening.

“Pidge asked you where the other controller is,” Hunk repeated.

“Oh. Sorry, Pidge, it’s probably in my room,” Lance said hurriedly, looking anywhere but at either of them as he scooted away.

As soon as Lance was out of sight, Pidge side-eyed Hunk. He side-eyed her back. Simultaneously, they burst out into giggles, trying vainly to muffle the sound with their hands.

“What the quiznak was _that_?” Pidge whispered, crossing her arms. Hunk shrugged, feeling his own face go a little hot.

“Yeah, good question,” he said quietly back. “I’ve never seen him do that before.”

“Well I can sure as hell tell you what it _looked_ like,” Pidge said suggestively, tilting her glasses with a knowing smirk. Hunk’s stomach fluttered.

“But it was at _me_ ,” Hunk stated, glancing in the direction of Lance’s room. “I mean, that’s crazy. Right?”

Pidge shrugged. “Just calling it like I see it.”

“Found it!” Lance called from the other room, bounding back over to them with a little too much bravado. “Hope you’ve spiffed up your skills, Pidgeon, because otherwise? You’re about to be toast.”

“Aw,” Pidge taunted. “Look at him, making threats he can’t keep. Get your butt down here, big mouth. I’ll show you what it looks like to _actually_ put your money where your mouth is.”

“We’ll see about that, squirt,” Lance challenged, flopping down onto the floor beside her.

Pidge shot Hunk one last, quick look as Lance loaded up the game. Hunk watched as they played, tossing in a forced, enthusiastic grin when needed, and tried to figure out how on earth he was supposed to start one of _those_ conversations with his best friend.

 

+

 

“Yo, I’m home,” Lance called, closing the apartment door behind him.

“Hiya,” Pidge called from the other room, curled up on the couch with her laptop in front of some workout video playing on the TV. Hunk grunted from the floor with a small wave as he held his plank.

“How’d work go?” Pidge asked. Lance shrugged.

“The usual. I’ll work from home tomorrow so I can drive you to the airport, okay?”

“Copacetic,” Pidge said absently, fingers flying across her keyboard. Typical.

“So, whatcha up to, big guy?” Lance smirked, sitting casually on Hunk’s back.

Hunk huffed, shooting him a look over his shoulder. He held on for a few more seconds, then collapsed as the workout instructor cheerily announced a reprieve.

“Up,” Hunk smacked him. Lance laughed, sitting on the coffee table next to him instead.

“What? I was helping,” Lance said. Hunk sat up, shaking his head.

“Fine, congrats then. You’re now my weight for this bench press rep,” Hunk said, scooping him up. Lance yelped. “Stop squirming,” Hunk laughed, balancing Lance on his palms as he lay back. “You wanna help? Lie flat and don’t move.”

Lance teetered for a moment before his instincts kicked in, finding his balance as Hunk extended his arms, biceps flexing as he pushed Lance up over his head _like he was nothing_. Lance hid his face his his hands as it burned.

Oh _god_. Hunk’s hands were so warm, resting on his lower back and _just_ below his ass on his thighs. It was _so unfair._

“Dude, I did not sign up for this, put me down,” he whined, muffled, as Hunk lowered and lifted him again.

Quiznak, why was that so hot?! Lance was going to pop one in like five seconds and then he’d have to jump out the window to his death rather than face down the embarrassment.

“Nope,” Hunk grunted. “You asked for it. I’ve got eight more to go.”

Lance peeked through his fingers as Pidge burst out laughing, her expression supremely smug as she watched Lance suffer.

Oh fucking damnit she totally _knew_.

Really, though, was he surprised? He’d given himself away _so badly_ the other day. Since Hunk didn’t bring it up, he thought maybe he’d gotten away with it, but so much for that. Pidge never missed anything.

Hunk laughed at him again as he dumped Lance in his lap and sat up. Lance tried to make a face at him, but his stomach doing flips from Hunk smiling at him as if he were cuteness personified was a _little_ _distracting_.

“Need some water, Lance?” Pidge asked, shit-eating grin plastered on her face. Lance stuck his tongue out at her.

“I definitely do,” Hunk grunted as he got to his feet, oblivious to her innuendo. Lance yelped again as Hunk lifted him, cradling Lance bridal style as he dumped him next to Pidge on the couch, then headed to the fridge.

Pidge’s smirk widened as Lance caught her eye. Lance flicked her in the knee as she started snickering again.

Lance could still feel the warmth from Hunk’s touch as if he’d branded him, and he had to consciously rip his eyes away as he caught himself staring at the the T of sweat on the back of Hunk’s loose tank top.

Frick, he was so in over his head.

 

 

“ _So_ , when are you going to tell Hunk?” Pidge asked as they flew along the highway to the airport.

Lance sighed. He’d wondered how long it would take for Pidge to attack him. Turns out, less than five minutes.

“About what?” Lance asked anyway, vainly delaying the inevitable.

“Your poop cycle,” she said sarcastically.

“Oh, regular, thanks for asking,” Lance said flatly back. Pidge smacked his knee.

“Come on,” she insisted. “Clearly you have to do _something,_ Mr. Gaga eyes.”

“Oh shut up.” Lance smacked her back. “Fine, yeah, you caught me. I don’t know how, okay?”

“I mean, words. Pretty sure you know some,” she said. Lance shot her a look.

“Come on, Pidge. You really think a dumb, awkward, sit-down conversation is a special enough way to go about this for _our_ best pal? Screw that. Hunk deserves way more." 

“What, like some grand gesture?” Pidge asked with a laugh.

“Yeah!” Lance said. “I’ve always thought _someone_ ought to. Might as well be me.”

“Okay, Romeo, what are you going to do then?” Pidge asked, still grinning as she crossed her arms.

“I don’t know! That’s the problem,” Lance groaned. “You’re the genius, you think of something.”

Pidge shrugged. “I mean, it _is_ almost New Years. That’s the easiest thing ever to make romantic.”

“Yeah, I know, but that’s a little cliché don’t you think?” Lance asked. “I don’t know. I just. If I’m gonna do this, I have to _do_ this, you know? At least then, if he shoots me down, I’ll have done everything I could.”

Pidge’s smile softened. “Somehow, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that.” 

Lance’s heart skipped.

“Wait, why, did he say something? Did _you_ say something? Why am I only hearing this right now?!” Lance blustered, gesturing wildly. Pidge grabbed the steering wheel as they started drifting into the other lane of traffic.

“Lance! Keep your eyes on the road, you idiot,” she snapped.

“Answer the questions Pidgeon!” Lance said louder. 

“I can’t answer _anything_ if you kill us both! Quiznak, this is why I never wanted to fly with you,” she griped.

“ _Pidge_!” Lance whined.

“Oh my _god_ ,” she said exasperatedly. “No, he didn’t say anything. Happy?”

“No, not particularly,” Lance frowned, settling back into the lane where they were supposed to be. Pidge rolled her eyes.

“I can _tell_ , okay? Now stop talking about it if it means you can’t drive us like a _normal person,_ ” she said.

“Fine,” Lance relented. “But if he says something to you and you don’t tell me, I swear on your life—”

“That you’ll what? Crash the car? Oh wait,” she said flatly. Lance rolled his eyes.

“I’m pretty sure he’s working New Years eve anyway,” Lance sighed.

“Well, whatever you end up doing, I’m sure literally everyone will know about it within minutes,” Pidge said. “Hunk isn’t exactly known for keeping secrets.”

Lance huffed a quiet laugh. “Yeah, you could say that again.”

 

+

 

Hunk closed the apartment door quietly behind him so as not to wake Lance, holding back a yawn.

The restaurant was always full to capacity all night on New Years Eve. He was grateful, glad that his little endeavor was such a treat for so many off-worlders looking for the first familiar home-cooked meal they’d had in ages, but it was definitely exhausting.

He kicked his shoes off, placing them neatly by the door, then paused, sniffing the air.

He’d been around food so much that night that at first he hadn’t noticed, but, there was definitely a delicious smell of _something_ wafting through the apartment. Man, it was _familiar_ too. Distinctive. Almost like...fried bananas? Had his mom sent something over?

He crept into the living room to investigate then stopped dead, staring. It looked as though a party store blew up in their apartment while he was gone, the whole area decked out with gold balloons and streamers, all glittering in the soft light of a slew of candles set up on every surface. It was pretty, but, what on earth…?

“Aha, there you are!” Lance said from the kitchen.

Hunk turned, brows raising as he took in the fact that not only was Lance _awake_ at 2:30AM, but dressed to the nines in high waisted dark slacks, strung up with equally black suspenders over his half-open sky blue dress shirt, and grinning widely around a noisemaker which he then promptly blew into.

Hunk laughed. “What’s all this? Did you have a hot date or something?”

“Well, I might,” Lance said, smile turning shy as he walked over to him. “It depends. How tired are you?”

Hunk stared bemusedly at him for half a second, then glanced around the room again. He was now able to see that the kitchen was decorated as well, their tiny table draped with a white table cloth and set for two with yet another set of candles placed romantically in the center. His heart skipped.

“Wait, Lance...you did all this for _me_?” Hunk asked, touched.

“Well, you’ve been cooking all night for everyone else, right? So, I figured, someone ought to at least make _you_ something, too,” Lance said. Hunk’s chest swelled.

That explained _so much_. Lance had been squirrelly all week, hardly leaving the house, and Hunk hadn’t for the life of him been able to figure out why. Now it made perfect sense. Lance never tried to make _anything_. He’d probably been having a difficult time practicing and keeping his plans under wraps.

“Aw, Lance. I...I don’t even know what to say,” Hunk said, bringing a hand to his chest. “This is such a nice surprise. Thank you.”

Lance flushed, looking pleased with himself. “I mean, I’m not exactly culinary genius like you, so you might wanna wait to try it before you thank me.” Hunk chuckled.

“Hey, if it tastes half as good as it smells, I’m sure it’s great,” he reassured, clapping Lance on the shoulder. “What is it, anyway? I thought maybe my mom brought something over when I walked in because it smells just like panikeke.”

Lance smiled smugly.

Hunk gasped. “Ho-ly quiznak. No way. Dude, those are my favorite!”

“Yeah, I know,” Lance said, looking cocky as he crossed his arms. “I actually did call your mom for ideas and the recipe, so you weren’t far off. We both figured that by the time you’d get home it might as well be breakfast time anyway, so, tada!”

Hunk smiled waveringly, wiping at his eyes a little. It might have just been the exhaustion getting to him, but, man. The whole thing was just so thoughtful and so sweet, he was a little overwhelmed.

“Aw, Hunk, don’t _cry_ ,” Lance said with a chuckle, pulling him into a hug. Hunk hugged him back, tight, for a moment, before it occurred to him that he was probably getting Lance’s nice outfit gross.

“Oh, crud, I forgot I’m still in work clothes. Sorry, man,” Hunk said, stepping back and brushing him off. The back of his neck warmed as he tactfully avoided letting his hands get too close to Lance’s bare skin, noticing again just how open Lance’s shirt was. Lance flushed an even deeper red.

“It’s fine!” Lance answered, a little squeaky. “Now, come on, are you going to actually eat with me or what?”

Hunk let Lance pull him by the arm into the kitchen, taking another hard look at the way Lance had set up the table. He swallowed.

The candles. The two champagne flutes. All this trouble Lance had gone through to make this a spectacle. His first instinct was to argue that how romantically coded this was had to be unintentional, but that was finally starting to sound absurd even to his own ears.

He’d talked himself out of having That Discussion with Lance the other week, sure that he was just projecting his own feelings. ‘Lance has always been a tactile person,’ he’d reminded himself multiple times over the course of the last month. Even now, part of his brain was babbling that going out of his way to spoil his best friend also wasn't all that out of the ordinary for Lance. Honestly, though.

It didn’t _feel_ normal, as he sat down, Lance pouring the wine with a flourish. It didn’t _look_ platonic, when Lance plated a handful of panikeke for each of them and fixing him with a soft expression again just like...like The Moment that happened when Pidge had been over. Even _she’d_ noticed something up that afternoon, so it _couldn’t_ just be him, right?

Plus, he _had_ specifically used the word date a few minutes ago when he was joking with Lance, and Lance had stuck with that connotation when he answered.

Were...were they really doing this? Was this Lance’s way of trying to take that step?

His heart leapt to his throat as he tried to work up the nerve to just ask. What’s this all really about? That’s all he needed to say. If he was wrong, and this was just a nice thing Lance was doing for him as his bestie, then cool. He could just enjoy the sweet, doughy, banana filled goodness and leave it at that. If he was right though…

“Hunk?” Lance asked, smile fading as mild panic seeped into his eyes. “You...okay?”

Hunk cleared his throat, nodding as he popped a panikeke into his mouth.

Whoa.

He glanced down in surprise at his plate. He’d just been stalling, but, _oh man._ These were _so good._

“Wait, was that a good ‘mmf?’ Do you like it?” Lance asked hopefully.

“Lance, this is _amazing_ ,” Hunk said sincerely. Lance's face lit up.

“Really?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, it even has a bit of my mom's classic flair to it. Seriously, this is why I’ve been saying I need to get you in the kitchen more often. I told you that you could be good at this if you just tried,” Hunk said. Lance beamed.

“Well, maybe just for special occasions I’ll let you bully me into it,” he said, sounding immensely relieved. “Like this one,” he added, after a beat.

Hunk’s pulse jumped. He took a breath, forcing the words out.

“You mean New Years?” he clarified. Lance chuckled nervously, running a hand through his hair.

“No, not exactly,” Lance said gently, meeting his eyes. “Look, Hunk, there's something I need to tell you. I...we’ve been best friends for what feels like forever and that’s—I value that so much, you know? Like, you’re one of _the_ most important people in my life. But, um...”

Lance scrubbed his hands over his face with a strangled noise. “I’m sorry, I,” he huffed at a laugh at himself. “ _Fuck._ I didn’t think I was going to be this nervous.”

Hunk reached for him automatically, resting a comforting hand on his elbow.

Beneath his concern, the slow warmth of a happy realization lit up his chest. Holy crow. If this was going where he thought it was going, then...he was right. He was _right_.

He couldn’t help but feel a little dizzy from that as Lance continued, “Basically, um. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, things aren’t exactly the same as they used to be between us anymore? Not on my end, anyway. And a big part of why is because...my feelings have changed. A lot. Or, well, maybe _changed_ isn’t the right word, so much as they’ve just. Gotten deeper? Quiznak, I’m really bad at explaining this,” Lance covered his face again. Hunk gently pulled them away.

“Start over, then.” Hunk smiled kindly. “Like you said, you’re my best friend. Just tell me, like you would anything else.”

“Okay. Okay, right. So. For a while now I—see, I've realized...Oh, screw it, I'm just gonna say it,” Lance took a breath, meeting his eyes again determinedly. “I'm in love with you, Hunk. Like, super, ridiculously, crazy for you. I don’t want to be _just_ best friends anymore.”

Hunk's heart did the tango in his chest. He smiled wider. He knew it. He _knew_ it, and he felt lighter than freaking air about it.

“Whoa, whaaat?” Hunk fake gasped. “That is such new information. I totally had no idea whatsoever.” Lance laughed sheepishly.

“I know, I know, I’m a master of subtlety,” he said.

Lance circled the table, dragging his chair directly next to Hunk, and taking Hunk’s hands in his own as Hunk turned to face him. Hunk felt his neck go hot again, butterflies rustling in his stomach. Lance’s smile grew earnest.

“Look, I know I haven’t exactly found that waterfront beach house yet,” Lance said, squeezing his hands. Hunk chuckled. “But, if it makes any difference, I _would_ be willing to negotiate the laundry thing.”

“Oh, well in _that_ case,” Hunk teased. He looked down at their hands, face too warm to dare keep his eyes focused on Lance’s. “In all seriousness, Lance, it's a relief to hear you say all this. I kinda suspected, but then I’ve been feeling the same way for a while, so I thought maybe I was just reading too far into things, you know?”

“Really?” Lance said, sounding delightedly surprised. “Well, trust me, you definitely weren’t. It was getting kind of ridiculous how bad I was getting at hiding it,” Lance laughed.

Hunk laughed with him, finally raising his head again. “Yeah, it really was, not gonna lie.”

Lance held his gaze softly. “Hey. I know it’s well past midnight, but...would you do me the honor of receiving my New Years kiss anyway?”

Hunk snorted, heart full to bursting. “Aw. And you call _me_ cheesy.”

“Is...that a no?” Lance asked hesitantly.

“‘Course it’s not. C’mere,” Hunk said, getting to his feet and tugging Lance up with him.

Lance’s smile could have birthed a bright new galaxy as he wound his arms around Hunk’s neck. Hunk brought a hand to Lance’s cheek, heart hammering. He was no longer able to look anywhere _but_ the burning blue of Lance’s eyes as they drew nearer, Hunk’s own falling closed as Lance leaned in, his lips warm and perfect and adorably eager as they moved against his.

To be fair, Hunk was eager too. It felt _right_ , pulling Lance closer and chasing Lance’s lips until they were both breathlessly giggling and giddy in each other’s arms.

Lance cupped Hunk’s face sweetly. “Happy New Year, handsome,” he said softly.

Hunk smiled back tenderly. “Back atcha, loverboy,” he murmured.

 

****

**_February_ **

Lance hadn’t wanted to leave bed all day and Hunk couldn’t bring himself to argue.

It was Sunday, rain was rapping hard against the windows, and the outside world was so dark and grey that it might as well have been nighttime. They had nowhere to be, so why bother leaving the comforting warmth of the blankets any longer than necessary?

For a while, Hunk sat up against his pillows and read while Lance spooned lazily against his side with an arm flung over Hunk’s stomach. Only after Hunk had convinced him to take a brief foray into the kitchen for a cobbled together brunch did Lance even bother to boot up his handheld, scooting in between Hunk’s parted legs and leaning back into Hunk’s chest.

From time to time when Lance hunched forward in frustration, Hunk massaged along his spine, eventually giving up on his book in favor of watching Lance play.

It was cozy. Domestic. And, honestly, not _all_ that different than so many other relaxing days they’d spent together, before they’d gotten together.

That is, until Lance reached back for Hunk’s hand and slid it rather unceremoniously past the front of his waistband.

Hunk snorted, sitting up a little more and wrapping his other arm firmly around Lance’s middle, hugging him close.

“Can I help you with something?” he asked, twirling the drawstring of Lance’s sweatpants loosely around his finger and noticing that, apparently, Lance had forgone underwear last night. Lance smirked, guiding Hunk’s hand further down to cup him.

He was a little surprised to find that Lance wasn’t actually hard, his cock easily engulfed by Hunk’s palm. Hunk squeezed at him gently, then reached down to cup his balls. Lance sighed appreciatively.

Hunk kissed his neck, smiling and shaking his head.

“What?” Lance asked innocently, leaning his head back onto Hunk’s shoulder with a highly suggestive grin. “Can’t a guy just sit and enjoy having his boyfriend’s big, sexy hands all over him for a while?”

“Sure, silly,” Hunk smiled, kissing the corner of his mouth. Lance grinned wider, smooching him back and then tucking his head under Hunk’s chin, snuggling comfortably back into him as he went back to his game.

Hunk massaged at him languidly, occasionally trailing his fingers up and down the soft skin of Lance’s thighs. Warmth spread through his chest every time that Lance hummed appreciatively, occasionally pressing up into Hunk’s touch or tilting his head up to kiss him again.

Hunk watched Lance chip away at a boss battle, dragging his thumb up and down the underside of Lance’s length and feeling him slowly fill out under his touch. The music soon swelled in victory as his little character pumped his fist.

“Finally,” Lance huffed triumphantly, tossing the handheld somewhere off to the side on the mattress.

Yawning, he flung his arms above their heads, hips rising off the bed as his whole body extended into a huge stretch. He bent one arm at the elbow in a loose, backwards hug around Hunk’s neck, nestling his ass firmly back against Hunk’s groin as he settled himself back down, and then pressed an open-mouthed kiss to Hunk’s cheek.

Hunk’s stomach somersaulted. He was sure his smile had melted into corny levels of sappiness, but he didn’t care. Lance’s eyes had fallen closed anyway as Hunk kissed his hair, squeezing lightly again at the, now firm, length in his palm.

Lance sighed, nuzzling into Hunk’s neck and running his fingertips down along Hunk’s arm until his hand had disappeared below his waistband as well, alternating between tracing patterns onto the back of Hunk’s hand as Hunk lazily stroked him, and slipping down to massage at his balls.

Hunk’s neck warmed. Lance had always been shameless about all things sex. That came as no surprise. What he hadn’t expected was just how tingly it would make _him_ feel, seeing Lance’s cheeks dust with pink, expression open and relaxed, as he indulged both in Hunk’s touch and his own.

Hunk swallowed, mind starting to drift as Lance soon began to harden in earnest, hips wiggling and rotating as he thrust shallowly into Hunk’s fist, consequently grinding his ass against Hunk’s own hardening length.

Lance’s next sigh was almost a moan against Hunk’s throat, and Hunk shuddered as Lance gently sucked the skin between his teeth, right over his quickening pulse.

“Mind if I take these off?” Lance asked, voice low and fingers at his waistband. Hunk shook his head, hooking his thumb on the other side and tugging.

Lance’s shimmying as he kicked the fabric away definitely did not help the situation between Hunk’s legs. Neither did the sight of Lance bared so comfortably and casually below him, his pretty, long legs splaying to hook over Hunk’s. Hunk’s breath hitched.

Man, sometimes he forgot just how gorgeous Lance was.

Lance’s eyes reopened, half-lidded. He smiled, slow and sultry, up at Hunk, tilting his head back onto Hunk’s shoulder to better look at him. Hunk smiled back, leaning in to kiss him. Lance hummed contentedly running the tip of his tongue along the seam of Hunk’s lips to part them, then licked in slowly, tracing the roof of Hunk’s mouth and down the middle of his tongue. Hunk let himself get lost in the heat of him. The taste of coffee and citrus.

Just for a moment, Lance stilled the hand Hunk was stroking him with, kissing him with gentle eagerness and then moving Hunk’s hand for him. Showing him how he liked it.

That...really shouldn’t have been so hot, but it was. Lance was just so _confident_. So comfortable with him, and so obviously enjoying Hunk’s touch. It was a little dizzying.

Lance laughed, breathy and beautiful. “Come on, hun. Kiss me like you mean it. You get me going so badly when you do.”

Hunk flushed, chuckling sheepishly into Lance’s mouth at how cheesy Lance sounded. Then again, what else was new? Lance grinned, nipping his lip.

“What? I’m serious. I’ll tell you a million times if I have to. You’re sexy as hell, babe. God, you’ve no idea how many times I woke up _aching_ after dreaming of your hands on me like this,” Lance sighed, moving his hips again in small, easy motions. “Kiss me harder, baby. _Please_.”

How could he say no to that?

Lance melted under him, pliant and sighing into Hunk’s mouth as Hunk kissed him in earnest.

He took his time, drawing out each movement of his tongue against Lance’s as though he were cherishing it—and he _was_ cherishing it. Cherishing him. Working to steal the breath right out of his lungs and then gift it back with just a little more love added in.

“Shit, Hunk, I’m—” Lance gasped with a thick shudder. “Ah, _ah_ , _fuck._ _Yes_. God, how are your hands even _legal?_ You feel so, _so_ good, babe. _Oh my god—_ ”

Hunk shushed him with another long kiss, a little drunk on the power he had over the body squirming and shaking under him, so near to release.

Lance quietly panted out increasingly obscene moans, flushed all the way down his neck. Hunk saw the muscles in Lance’s abdomen flutter. Watched him twitch and buck shallowly into Hunk’s fist, squeezing at his balls. He was utterly lost in his own pleasure. Disheveled. Beautiful.

Finally, Lance’s head fell back with a shuddering sigh and a long groan, hips stuttering as he came, decorating the back of Hunk’s hand.

Hunk’s heart pounded, his own dick so hard he hardly knew what to do with himself. Lance went boneless against his chest, face tucked against his neck as he slowly got his breath back.

After a minute, he smiled, kissing Hunk’s throat softly.

“Mmm, hell yeah. My kind of Sunday,” Lance preened with a content sigh. “Want me to take care of you, too, big guy?”

“You don’t have to,” Hunk stuttered automatically. He _did_ want him too. Of course he did. Almost desperately. But _asking_ for it still felt kind of...embarrassing?

Lance scoffed. “Have to? Honey, I’d be _privileged_ to,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Before Hunk could even try to formulate a response to that, Lance was flipping himself around.

He stared as Lance leaned across the bed, his shirt rucking up to reveal more smooth, tan skin as he reached for the tissues on the end table to clean up the mess he’d made. Lance kissed each of Hunk’s fingers with a smile as he wiped him up, licking them clean if he missed a spot. Something fluttered in Hunk’s gut.

Hunk slid his other fingers under the hem of Lance’s shirt, tracing up over his ribs to his chest. Lance flashed him a flirtier smile, bringing Hunk’s fingers back to his lips, then showily tugged the shirt up over his head. Hunk took in an unsteady breath, transfixed.

Lance got up on his knees, letting Hunk’s gaze trace all the way from the slope of his neck to the v of his hips without a hint of shyness about having the entirety of his body on full display for him. Hunk settled his hands on Lance’s waist, some deep, carnal part of him feeling a strangely intense satisfaction about how easily the splay of his fingers covered so much of Lance’s slender frame. Smile softening, Lance brought his palms to the sides of Hunk’s face, smoothing down along his neck and over his shoulders.

Lance let Hunk’s lips wander over his skin for a moment, then chuckled, pushing lightly on Hunk’s chest to lower him down against the pillows. Hunk watched fixedly as those long, thin fingers dragged down over the curve of his stomach, hooking into the waistband of his pajama pants and slowly tugging down.

His heart fluttered a little with nervousness as the fabric fell below his hips. They’d only done this in the dark before, not like this. But, this was _Lance_. Hunk trusted him implicitly. After all, hadn’t Lance just shown him there was no need for them to be self-consciousness with one another?

A possessive smirk curled at the corners of Lance’s mouth as he unhooked the soft fabric from Hunk’s ankles and tossed it to the floor, heatedly eyeing the newly revealed skin between Hunk’s legs.

Heat flared across Hunk’s ribs, breath hitching as he saw desire darkening Lance’s bright blue eyes. Lance flicked them up to meet his gaze and held it as he lowered those ever-moving lips to where Hunk was aching for him, rumbling a throaty moan around him that sparked up Hunk’s spine like lightning. Hunk groaned, tangling a hand in Lance’s hair, and let everything else go, Lance quickly skyrocketing him up to the heavens in bliss.

 

 

“Lance?” Hunk said quietly, running a hand gently through Lance’s hair.

“That’s my name,” Lance smirked back, curled up on Hunk’s chest and toeing lightly up and down Hunk’s calf.

Hunk swallowed. “Do you…” he trailed off.

He felt silly for asking. For even bringing it up, considering how obviously and vocally into it Lance had been, letting their bare skin warm and caress one another as the afternoon passed them by. But...it was gnawing at him nonetheless.

“Do you really find me as attractive as you say you do?”

Lance’s face slackened in surprise. Hunk flushed, looking away.

“Sorry, it’s stupid, ignore—”

“Yes,” Lance said firmly, bringing a hand to his cheek. “Yeah. Of course I do,” he added softly.

Lance kissed him, hard and passionate and _wanting_ , then pulled back.

“I mean, come on. Have you _seen_ you, lately? Big, sexy, broad chest? Check. Arms that could totally destroy me? Check. Lovely, soft, smoochable tummy made for giving the best hugs and being the best pillow ever? Triple check,” Lance said, running a finger reverently over Hunk’s pecs. His bicep. His belly button, directly under Lance’s.

Hunk melted, an entire colony of butterflies swooping and fluttering in his stomach.

“And, really, someone should give you a fucking medal every time you squat, ‘cause, your ass? Those thighs? Out of this _world_ ,” Lance continued, grinning widely. “You live up to your nickname, Hunk, trust me. Plus, what’s hotter than a guy who can cook better than a Paris chef _and_ rattle off the most complicated rocket science in his sleep like it was second grade geometry? I’m the luckiest idiot alive.”

Hunk smiled, holding back the urge to pepper his lips over every inch of Lance’s face for the rest of eternity. “Eh, I don’t know, I think I may beat you out in the luck department. _I’m_ the one that gets to be with _you_ , after all.”

“Fair enough,” Lance winked. “Wanna fight me for it? Not to brag, but I’d like to think I’ve gotten the hang of this whole naked wrestling thing.”

Hunk laughed, framing Lance’s face with his hands and kissing him sweetly. “I love you,” he said sincerely. Lance rested his forehead against his.

“I love you too, Hunk.”

 

**March**

“—Good to hear it, man. Take it easy,” Hunk smiled, waving at a departing customer. Lance breathed in deep, taking in all the mouthwatering smells coming from the direction of the kitchen and snuck over to his usual stool. He reached over and rang the bell once, leaning heavily on the counter.

Hunk looked up, a wide, warm smile spreading immediately over his face as he spotted Lance. Lance’s chest squeezed. That never got old.

“Hey, I hear rumor you offer discounts to regulars. Think you can hook a guy up?” Lance teased as Hunk reached him, glass of OJ and mug of coffee already in hand.

“Eh, I hear the owner is pretty chill. I’m sure we can work something out.” Hunk smiled. “What would you like me to get you?”

“Well, I definitely _could’ve_ gone for a Chef’s Special this morning,” Lance said suggestively, reaching for Hunk’s hand, “but _someone_ was up and out of bed an hour earlier than usual.” Hunk laughed.

“Sorry, duty called.” He squeezed Lance’s hand. “There was some issue with the freezer.”

“Sure, sure, I see how it is.” Lance shook his head. “And to think I was going to give this place a good review.”

Hunk shook his head, bringing Lance’s fingers to his lips and kissing each knuckle. “How ‘bout I fold extra of all your favorite ingredients into your omelet and we call it even?”

“I think I’d rather you fold _me_ extra, but hey, I’ll take what I can get,” Lance shrugged, with a smoldering smile.

He laughed as Hunk’s cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink.

“Can you at least _try_ to let me be professional at work?” Hunk chided.

“Sorry, hun,” Lance said sweetly.

“No you’re not,” Hunk said fondly.

“Yeah, well,” Lance grinned. “I can’t resist. You’re cute when you’re flustered.”

Hunk squeezed his hand again with a shake of his head. “Seriously, think of what you want so you actually have time to eat it, okay? I’ll be right back.”

“You, with a side of waffles. Extra maple butter,” Lance called after him. He could nearly hear Hunk’s eyes rise to the ceiling.

“Lance?” a familiar voice said behind him. Lance started, turning in surprise.

“Allura?” he said in disbelief.

Sure enough, directly in front of him was the softly smiling face of everyone’s favorite Altean.

“I thought I heard your voice when I walked in. It’s so good to see you,” she said genuinely.

“Hey, wow, yeah, it’s good to see you too,” Lance said, standing up to hug her. She squeezed him back gently, then took the seat beside him. “So, uh, what are you doing here? I thought Shiro told me the two of you had some big ceremony to attend this week off-world.”

“It was postponed, unfortunately. Drophinel’s weather patterns are horribly unpredictable,” Allura said. “I was already going to be passing by the area on my way to the rendezvous point, though, so I thought I’d stop by and see what all the fuss was about with this famous diner. All of my best sources claim this is _the_ place to eat this side of the galaxy, after all,” she said, eyes twinkling.

“Gee, I wonder what handsome, genius source that could be,” Lance grinned.

Allura chuckled, then gave a searching look around the room. “Speaking of, where’s the man behind the magic?” she asked.

“Hopefully? Whipping me up some waffles,” Lance said. “He should be back in a minute.”

“That sounds heavenly right about now,” Allura said. “I do miss having frequent access to his cooking.”

“Yeah. I won’t lie, it’s pretty great,” Lance said. Allura’s look softened. An odd pang twinged in his chest as he met her gaze.

“The two of you are doing well then?” she asked meaningfully.

He glanced automatically over to the kitchen, a small, tender smile rising on his lips as he watched Hunk’s head bobbing through the round windows of the swinging doors. “Yeah,” he said gently. “We’re really good.”

Allura reached to squeeze his forearm with a fond smile. “I’m glad to hear it,” she said. “You deserve as much. Both of you.”

Lance squeezed her hand back, that vaguely bittersweet feeling still aching in his chest. “Thanks, Lu,” he said sincerely. “What about you? You seeing anybody?” he asked.

Allura shrugged. “Nothing serious. I’ve been a bit married to my work as of late,” she said. “It’s been nice, though. I’ve been spending a lot of time with the former Altean colonists, trying to revive and impart as much Altean culture as I can remember. I’ve even heard a few stories from Coran I’d somehow never heard before.”

“Wow, that’s possible?” Lance asked.

“I know, honestly,” Allura laughed. “The Altean juniberry flowers Colleen sequenced are growing nicely too. Pidge sent me a photo just last week. It’s remarkable, that family never ceases to amaze me.”

“That’s the Holt’s for ya,” Lance agreed. “I’m sure she’ll be jealous we saw you.”

Allura hummed a noise of agreement, the two of them lapsing into comfortable silence for a moment.

Despite the mix of emotion in his chest, Lance was surprised to find that he actually was happy to see her. The tentativeness of their slowly reforged friendship was finally starting to give way to the same warm familiarity that he so often felt with the rest of the paladins. Still family, just, in a different way than he’d originally thought he’d wanted from her.

“Allura?” Hunk rounded the counter. Allura’s face lit up.

“Hunk! There you are,” she stood, arms open. Hunk grinned back, crushing her into a hug.

“Aw man, what a nice surprise! I didn’t know you were going to be in town,” Hunk said.

“It was a rather last minute arrangement,” Allura explained. “Now, not to skip over pleasantries, but I believe Lance mentioned a stack of waffles...?” she asked, bringing her hands together hopefully with an eager grin. Hunk chuckled.

“Sure, have as many as you want. My treat. I’ll go get some coffee for you while you wait,” he said. “Yours will be out in just a minute, hun,” he added, squeezing Lance’s shoulder. Fondness tugged at Lance’s heart again.

“Thanks, babe, no rush,” Lance called after him. Hunk waved the notion away as he poured Allura a mug and then headed back to the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Allura’s lips quirk up into a small smile again.

“Well,” Allura raised the sturdy porcelain as if making a toast as Lance met her gaze, “To good food, good company, and moving forward with our best lives,” she said.

Lance smiled, clinking his mug against hers with warmth filling his chest. “Yeah. Cheers to that, Princess.”

**Author's Note:**

> Btw, I was envisioning something like ifellfromtheskies art for Lance's date outfit: https://ifellfromtheskies.tumblr.com/post/176366043154/happy-birthday-lance
> 
> Also, these are panikeke, if you were curious: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/212389/samoan-panikeke/
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


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